QMI AGENCY

To be blunt, they’re “horse s---,” Burke said at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, according to an ESPN report.

Burke continued: "I don't like the shootout. I think it's a circus stunt.”

It’s not the first time the NHL executive has come out swinging against the league’s tie-breaking mechanism.

During his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he took a similar shot at the shootout.

“I'd like to look at anything that reduces the number of games that are decided by a shootout," Burke told Yahoo! Sports at the time. “I mean, basically we're deciding an astonishing percentage of games with a shootout. We never envisioned that when we approved that rule."

According to sportscharts.com, around 13% of NHL games are decided by shootouts each season.

As a result, multiple GMs have trumpeted the idea of extending overtime periods or adjusting it to be 3-on-3.